Have Brown County taxpayers pay for more prosecutors? Supervisors say no, twice

Fed up with an overcrowded jail and a lack of action by the state, a group of Brown County supervisors wants to add three prosecutors — and have local taxpayers bear the cost. The shortage, which is the largest among counties in the state, has backlogged the court system and helped push the jail to capacity less than 20 years after it opened.
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Brown County District Attorney David Lasee at work in his downtown Green Bay office in October 2016.(Photo: Doug Schneider/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)Buy Photo

GREEN BAY - Brown County supervisors agree that their district attorney needs more prosecutors — but not enough to fund positions the state is supposed to pay for.

The County Board on Wednesday twice rejected proposals to hire additional assistant district attorneys at county expense. A move to hire three prosecutors and a support person at a net cost of about $256,000 failed, 18-8. An attempt to fund two positions failed 14-12.

Supporters said more prosecutors would mean speedier trials for some jail inmates, helping to clear a crowding problem that requires the county to pay to house dozens of inmates each day in other counties. Opponents, though, said there was no guarantee that the savings on housing costs would offset the costs of the prosecutors.

They also said they didn't want to be "enablers" for a state legislature that they say has failed to meet its obligations to understaffed DA offices in other counties.

"The state has pretty much failed the criminal-justice system, so I'm concerned about the precedent we'd be setting," said De Pere Supervisor Aaron Linssen, who has worked as a criminal defense an attorney. "I don't think it's our responsibility to fund a state obligation. Our (state) representatives have failed us, quite frankly."

State Rep. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, this fall introduced a bill that would fund two prosecutors' positions for Brown County, two for Outagamie County, and positions elsewhere in the state.

The votes came as supervisors hammered out final details of a 2018 county budget proposal of almost $277 million, which was largely unchanged from a spending plan Executive Troy Streckenbach proposed a month earlier.

The final budget will levy $90.7 million in property taxes based on a tax rate of $4.56 per $1,000 of equalized property value. That's down three cents from the current tax rate.

The owner of a $150,000 home will pay about $684 in county property taxes.That's about $4.50 less than in 2017. Actual bills will vary based on local property assessments.

Several supervisors indicated they may seek another way to hire more prosecutors.

For years, state studies have shown that a number of DA offices lack adequate staff to meet the needs of the communities they serve. The most recent study said Brown County is short by 11 or 12 prosecutors; that's the largest shortfall in the state.

David Lasee, Brown County's chief prosecutor, said he asked the state to fund four new prosecutors in his most recent budget request, but was denied. State lawmakers did, however, allocate money to increase the pay of some prosecutors — another item Wisconsin's DAs had been seeking for years as a way to reduce staff turnover.

Also Wednesday, supervisors shot down a proposal to spend $190,000 to buy metal detectors, and hire people to staff them, for the county courthouse in downtown Green Bay. A 13-13 vote meant the proposal failed.

Five of the county's eight circuit court judges support the proposal. Judge Thomas Walsh said an internet search shows examples of courthouse violence across the country, including in a small Minnesota town where a district attorney and three other people were shot.

"This can happen anywhere," Walsh said.

Presiding Judge William Atkinson, however, said the county should not limit access to a building that belongs to the people.

The Brown County Courthouse is the only one among the state's largest counties that does not have metal detectors to screen people entering the building, which includes eight criminal courtrooms and also hosts civil cases. The county occasionally rents detectors to screen people entering courtrooms where high-profile trials are due to take place.

"We live in a society that's becoming more violent, so we try to mitigate the risks," said Green Bay Supervisor Patrick Evans. "I look at this as a way to protect our workers, and protect our visitors, even if it means some people have to give up some of their civil liberties."

Officials said Brown County has not has an incident of gun violence inside the courthouse.

What's the problem?

» A state study recommends Brown County have 11 to 12 more prosecutors. The shortage means many defendants wait longer in jail before their cases get to court. That helps crowd the jail, so the county pays to house dozens of inmates a day outside the county.

» By law, the state is supposed to pay county prosecutors' salaries. The state acknowledges that DA offices are short staffed in Brown and a number of other counties but has refused to fund all of the positions that are needed.

» One option: Counties can pay for some prosecutors. Brown County now pays for two. Previously the county funded a temporary prosecutor to clear backlogged drug cases. Such cases are important, but fall behind violent crime, child sex crimes and human trafficking on the priority list.

» Some worry that counties that pay for some of their prosecutors are allowing the state to shirk its responsibility. They fear the Legislature will be even more reluctant to increase funding if some counties pay for prosecutors.

Jail at a glance

The county's jail facilities have a capacity of 750 inmates; 543 at the jail and the remainder in the Work-Release Center in downtown Green Bay. That allows for 713 adult prisoners and 37 youths.

One-fourth of the inmates are classified as high-risk; 70 percent are medium-risk.

This summer, the jail operated at 92.7 percent capacity. However, some sections may be under capacity — areas for juveniles, and for special-needs inmates — while others were over. The county must separate adults from juveniles, and men from women. Overcrowding this summer was common in the women's section.

Most inmates are housed two to a cell, but some can't be "double-bunked" because risks associated with particular inmates. The state requires individual cells for 15 percent of the jail's capacity. About 70 percent of inmates face felony charges.

The number of female inmates has grown almost 23 percent since 2009, but 75 percent of inmates are male. Unsentenced inmates outnumber sentenced inmates 4 to 1.

In 2015, 10,001 people were booked into the jail.

Jail space options

Weekend arraignments: Someone arrested Friday night or on the weekend doesn't go before a judge until Monday afternoon, even for a minor offense. So the jail population can swell by about 70 people — almost 13 percent of capacity.

To address that, Supervisor Bernie Erickson has proposed having a judge hold bond hearing on Saturdays so low-level prisoners could be released. The challenge: Courthouse staffing costs would increase.

OWI court: Executive Troy Streckenbach has proposed a special court for people facing a fourth OWI charge. The court would be designed to get habitual drunken drivers into treatment programs, while keeping people meeting the program's guidelines out of jail

Bigger jail: The county still plans to build an addition that would increase its jail capacity by 124. Streckenbach hopes for a 2019 opening.